Andreas Kuehlmann, President of the IEEE Council on EDA (CEDA), Vice President of Research and Development, Coverity Inc.

At CEDA, we watched the EDA industry leaders in 2010 take stock of existing business models and continue the evolution of the traditional tools play model into one that incorporates IP and other solutions that help build complex electronic systems.

EDA is increasingly reaching higher into the ecosystem and has continued to broaden its scope into systems and software. Expect to see more expansion, acquisitions and partnerships in 2011 as the industry works more closely with system companies that develop final electronic products.

As a reflection of this expansion, consider the Design Automation Conference where planning is under way to expand the footprint of both the program and exhibit floor into adjacent industries, such as embedded software and systems. As well, EDA’s community is broadening throughout the world, something we didn’t see 10 or even five years ago. For example, we at CEDA have formed three new chapters in Brazil, China and Taiwan, with more to come in 2011. That reflects the fact that a formerly U.S.-centric industry is becoming far more globalized with both academic and industry ties in almost every country. This is a direct consequence of the full globalization of the electronics industry that we serve and a reality that we should fully embrace.

EDA has plenty to be optimistic about. We have a history of successes in solving computationally hard problems in analysis and optimization for very large instances. Whether verifying a complex processor design or validating the correctness of a piece of embedded software, the EDA community has the foundational knowledge and experience to tackle them.

While some believe EDA has been marginalized, that’s not a view shared by CEDA. EDA continues to be critical to electronic systems being designed and built, and will be for some time to come. In fact, it will be increasingly important as product lifecycles compress, the pressure to lower cost further increases and companies continue to adapt electronic solutions of growing complexity. The challenge for the EDA industry will be to find a business model that reflects its critical importance and ensures its healthy existence in the economic ecosystem. Project teams on every level can’t do design without EDA, which is why we’re bullish for EDA in 2011.